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The imperial landing craft that crashed into the Jakku desert long ago was finally scavenged dry, and Rey saved the most important part for last: The ion shield generator. This would cost her more than 2 weeks’ worth of rations, Rey thinks, something to reward her after a full year of endless scavenging. Binding the generator onto her sled, Rey hops onto her speeder bike and heads to the Niima Outpost, where she knows the filthy Unkar Plutt awaits her.
As she passes through miles upon miles of barren lands, Rey finally approaches the main gate of the outpost, where she slows her speeder to a stop and parks it near a particular hut. Before she could present her fine catch of the day, Rey had to scrub the generator clean. That was a standard rule for scavengers to do before handing parts in. So she does that; dragging the generator with her to the hut, and then dropping the heavy son of a bitch onto the table. With a heavy, tired sigh, Rey picks up a cloth and starts scrubbing them.
The inside of the generator was partially filled with sand, so Rey had to pull some cables and drives apart to thoroughly clean them. While doing this, Rey notices a man standing near the hut, looking around the area. He had dark hair and pale skin, wearing what seems to be merchant garb, which Rey recognizes as something that is not from Jakku. It almost excites Rey since she rarely sees foreigners around Jakku.
She was planning on staring at him for much longer until he turned and walked towards her table. Rey immediately directed her eyes to the generator and resumes her scrubbing.
“Scavenger,” he says.
Rey glanced at him, and then around her. Was he referring to her?
“I’m talking to you.”
She stops her scrubbing. He is talking to her. “What do you want? I didn’t do anything,” she says defensively.
The man points at the part she was holding, “that’s a differential regulator. I need it. Give it to me.”
Rey almost laughs at the man. Who does he think he is? “Finders, keepers. Get your own part,” she says, dismissing him.
She continues scrubbing then. From her peripherals, she could tell that the man was angry by her response.
“Give it to me or I will—” he started to say, but then ceased to speak to let out an audible sigh. He looks at her, and Rey was taken aback by his behavior.
“What do you want in exchange for that part?” he calmly asks, though hinting a malicious tone.
Rey looked at the part she was scrubbing, and that back at him. This man must not know the ins and outs of this place. Poor, poor man. He was lucky he came to her instead of the other scavengers. He would have been robbed dry.
“Ration packs, sir. Unless you can get me at least 2 weeks' worth of ration packs, I’m not giving you anything.”
2 weeks’ worth. Rey pokes her tongue in her cheek to hold herself from chuckling. A differential regulator wasn’t even worth four portions.
The man looked at her in annoyance and then turned to look at the concession stand. There was a hard look on his face when he turned to her, “I will give you the rations. Follow me.”
Rey scoffed but stood up anyways to follow him to the concession stand. There, they lined up behind an enthusiastic-looking Teedo holding a scrap part.
Standing beside him, Rey uses this opportunity to examine him further. The man was wearing a brown merchant cloak that wasn’t dirty from the sand, just a bit discolored. It was as if the clothes were kept in a clean place, and had been only worn today. Beneath his cloak, he wore something black which was odd since Jakku was such a hot place. He didn’t seem to mind though; sweat collecting above his brow and freckled cheeks that are now red from the heat, but he was breathing composedly. Rey wonders if he was originally from a colder place, perhaps arriving here at Jakku on a big ship. She blushes then, thinking about flying a big ship while wearing a pilot’s helmet like the one she has in her AT-AT home. That would be a dream come true.
The man turned to her with a scowl, “what are you looking at?”
Rey just shrugs.
When it was their turn in the line, the man snatched the differential regulator from Rey–earning a little “hey!” from her–and presented it to the stand. Unkar Plutt looked at the part, at Rey, and then at the man. For a second, it looks like Plutt was thinking carefully, but ultimately he let out a belly full of cynical laughter.
“This scrap is no longer needed, you’re going to have to try something else!”
Rey sighs, almost leaving the stand to continue scrubbing her other parts, but was halted by the man’s hand on her wrist. She looked at his hand and then at him.
The man’s head tilted a little to the side. “You will give me the rations for this piece,” he said.
As if being pulled into a trance, Unkar Plutt stood still and repeated what he said: “I will give you the rations for this piece.”
“A month’s worth of rations,” the man said.
“A month’s worth of rations.”
Then, Unkar Plut turned to scoop out a great deal of ration packs and dropped them on the stand. Rey immediately gawks at the rations and quickly hug-grabbed the rations into her arms. How did the man do that?
“We are free to go,” the man said again, grabbing the differential regulator with him. Unkar Plutt, who is still dazed, repeated what he said again.
As they walked away, Rey can hear Plutt groan awake but did not call out to them. They really did get away with getting the rations without giving that Blobfish anything!
Rey hugged the rations tight with a mischievous grin. She turned to look at the man, who is already staring at her and the rations, probably disgusted at how they looked. You can’t really blame him though, it is bluish and didn’t nearly look as good as real food. She hesitates, but Rey says it out loud anyway, “They’re not as bad as they look, you know. They’re not that tasty, but edible enough for survival.”
The man looks ahead and doesn’t answer her. Rey decides to be silent as well.
They reached the hut where the generator is still on the table where Rey left it. The man waved the differential regulator at Rey. “Now that you got your rations, I’ll be taking this.”
As he starts to walk away from her, Rey stops him in his tracks. “Wait… You didn’t tell me how you did that.”
“Did what?” he asks impatiently.
“The… thing you did on Plutt. Are you a magician? Can you teach me how to do that?”
The man walks past her without a second thought.
“Or at least tell me your name!” she shouted.
He doesn’t even give Rey a glance for that. She watches him as he disappears into the desert, contemplating about stalking him and peeking at his ship, but ultimately decides against it. He had such a menacing atmosphere around him, she didn’t want to provoke him any further.
There was a hunch that she’ll probably never see him again, but one thing’s for sure… Rey will remember this odd encounter indefinitely.
---
With steady hands, Kylo placed the differential regulator into the inside of a small droid, which turned out to fit perfectly inside albeit its sandy condition. He connected a few cables to it and closed the droid opening. Then, he steps back to get a better view of his work and almost cracks a smile. Kylo pushes the power button, and the droid came to life immediately. It paused for a few moments before scanning the floor of the room. Then, it proceeded to let out a small device and started vacuuming the floor.
He watches as the droid cleaned around the room with no errors when suddenly his communicator rings. He answers the call, which turned out to be Armitage Hux.
“The Supreme Leader calls for you, Ren.”
Kylo physically stiffens, gripping his gloved hand, but answers in a clear tone: “I will be right there with him.”
As he puts the communicator down, Kylo picks up his helmet which was sitting beside him on the table. He puts it on, earning an audible hiss from it, and proceeds to the door, off to meet his Supreme Leader.